Iceland’s election winner, the Social Democrats, were tasked to start talks on forming the island nation’s next government. Most Read from BloombergAs Wars Rage, Cities Face a Dark New Era of Urban DestructionRiyadh Metro Partially Opens in Bid to Ease City’s Traffic JamsPresident Halla Tomasdottir on Tuesday gave Social Democrats’ leader Kristrun Frostadottir the mandate to lead talks after her party emerged as the winner in Saturday’s general election.

Iceland's centre-left Social Democratic Alliance became the biggest party in a snap election that unseated the ruling coalition of the past seven years, the final count showed on Sunday.

Iceland’s opposition Social Democrats won snap parliamentary elections as the ruling bloc faced voter discontent with high costs of living and housing shortages.Most Read from BloombergRiyadh Metro Partially Opens in Bid to Ease City’s Traffic JamsIn Traffic-Weary Toronto,

With all the votes tallied on Sunday, the Social Democratic Alliance had won 15 seats in the 63-seat parliament, more than doubling its total.

Iceland’s Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson dissolved the parliament in October and called the snap election, citing growing disagreements among the three governing parties — his Independence Party, the Progressive Party and the Left-Greens. All three parties in the outgoing government appeared to have lost votes.

Forming a majority government will now require complex negotiations. Iceland’s political culture does not follow traditional left-right divisions, making coalitions unpredictable

Iceland began the work to form a new ruling coalition after opposition Social Democrats won Saturday’s elections on the Atlantic island.

Iceland's opposition Social Democrats overtook the governing Independence Party of Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson after a snap election prompted by the collapse of his fraught coalition government,